The presidency says President Muhammadu Buhari will not interfere with the trials of Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), and Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), dismissing insinuations that the president is bent on influencing the court to jail the duo.
According, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, Buhari has the right to hold an opinion on the matter, but he would not interfere with the process of the court.
During his maiden chat with select journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, Buhari showed a predisposition to keeping Dasuki and Kanu in detention.
“Technically, if you see the type of atrocities those people committed against the country, if they jump bail…..,” he had said.
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“The former president just wrote to the governor of central bank and said give N40 billion – 40 billion to so so so, and you give him bail to go and see a doctor in London, when you have 2 million people in IDP camps. Half of them don’t even know their parents. What kind of country do you want us to run?
“And the one you’re calling Kanu, do you know he has two passports. One Nigeria, one British and he came to this country without using any passport.
“Do you know that he brought equipment into this country, sophisticated equipment, and was broadcasting for Radio Biafra. What kind of government do you want to have? He has been charged with treasonable felony, and I hope the court will listen to the case.”
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On Saturday, Shehu, while clarifying the stance of the president in an opinion piece, described the presidential media chat as a “win win”.
“On the other hand, many understand his comments regarding the bail for Col Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu to mean that government would use all avenues in the legal system to ensure that they are made to face trials. Under the constitution, no one can stop the courts from doing their jobs and it is matter the president keeps going back to given his much-cherished, newly-acquired democratic beliefs,” he said.
“On any given day in court, lawyers argue the pros and cons of given issues. As writers and commentators in the media, this is what we do always. The one who argues for bail and the one who argues against it are both entitled to their views.
“It is harsh of anyone to deny the president an opinion on these matters when all of us are freely commenting upon them. Muhammadu Buhari is first a citizen before becoming a president. He is entitled to hold views as you and I are under the constitution.
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“What will be wrong is when he tries to impose those views on the courts or on anyone, and this not anything he has done, and is will not do as the elected president of Nigeria.
“Talking about candour, it is very rare that when asked a question, the leader of a country will say I don’t have the answer, I will seek explanation from so, so or that I will instruct the Central Bank to issue a statement on that. This is why when he speaks, the public believes him because he does so with an aura sincerity. This is something that helps public perception.
“A leader who knows it all by himself is not what a country needs. Since assuming power in May 2015, the president has sent very clear signals to the media of his non-interference with their freedom. As the leader of this large and diverse country, he had an important message for them he kept for the last: he wants the media to rise above speculations, do a lot of research and investigation to produce credible articles. In his view, they need to do this to ramp up their credibility. Should they fail to do this, they will risk dragging down their reputable institution from the high pedestal it occupies. The self-regulating arms of the industry will be doing a disservice to both the media and the nation if they ignore this freely-offered advice.
“From my own partisan, but certainly not jaundiced view, the first of the quarterly media chats was a win-win move. It served both sides well, with the media carrying out their constitutional duty of auditing the administration and the president having a useful platform to reach millions of citizens who harbour a love for him and a shared expectation of change.”
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4 comments
Building on the “success” of the last presidential media chat means bringing up another in not later than three months from now. I do not forsee any one in the near future however. The last was an insult onthe syche of nigerian giving that the president never gave answers to some questions. In stead he went off talking about unrelated matters. It was so clear he never understood those questions. In other instances, he was truthful (I salute him for that) to acknowledge that he never new what was on ground. Does that mean all those he had gathered around him are feeding him with falsehood. Any way, so much falsehood had been released into the nigerian atmosphere leading to the elections. Lying spirits had been let loose.
Tell us anywhere in the world that opposition knows the FULL details on ground before assuming power.U people will never stop wailing
Opposition is a government in waiting. I don’t know where you live may be in a village far away from civilisation. Otherwise you should have known that governments in civilised country always select their ministers who conduct detailed research on the sitting government.
Garba Shehu cannot pull wool over our eyes. We all watched the media chat and came away convinced that the president, being an adult, knew exactly what he was saying and what he chose not to say. He portrayed his true character as one who did not believe in democratic norms and ethos. He is a tyrant, bent on his ways and as the elders would say, you cannot teach an old man how to use his left hand. No matter the number of times PMB brands himself a born-again democrat, he is not. He is still a military man wearing the strange garb of a democrat.
Garba Shehu should not insult our intelligence that the president did not understand the import of speaking live in a TV programme and would go ahead to give “personal opinion” when the whole world was watching to hear him conceptualize the direction of his government. Nobody is interested in his personal opinion because as it were, his personal opinion is being carried out by the blatant refusals of his administration to obey court orders as regards Dasuki and Kanu.